Wow, the weather got down to 10 below a few times. It did some damages to the water pipes, so I invested in some Pex and some Shark bites. I started at the water mains entrance and started cutting all of the questionable parts out from there. This stuff is good. I had plumbing that was galvanized, black iron, Brass tube, and copper tubing. The latest copper pipe was the nasty stuff from the mid 70’s. SO I divided the job into zones and had the core systems restored in very short order. Last to be plumbed is an upstairs bath refit, Which turned into a remodel job. It was on the things to do list anyhow. Now it’s mostly done. I love the flexible Pex tubing as you can fish it up the walls like it was a wire job. I restored the Gas heating this evening to ride the rest of this cold snap out.

One thing I liked about the Pex is the low cost and it’s resistance to freezing. I have seen one pipe expanded up to 2 and 3/4 inches and it returned to it’s old dimensions with the application of heat from a hair dryer. Secondly was a pay as you go kind of thing that allowed me to cover the costs over 2 weeks as work and cash permitted. I have another 80 buck outlay to get the upstairs bath back into shape. and the plaster restored. Now that the worst of this season is a memory, I can get back into the swing of things. I got a post planned about what worked vs what failed this last winter. Somethings went as planned exactly and others not as well. There’s more snow in the offing, But I’ll do ok from here into spring. Hopefully I’ll be able to post more often.

I’ve been very impressed with Sharkbite fittings. Wildflower turned me on to them, and I always keep a few around along with some sections of 1/2″ for when something springs a leak. Haven’t done much with Pex though.

I’m using the white pex as it was some cheaper than the red or blue. One thing I noticed about the sharkbite fittings is you should have the de-burring tool. It really cuts down on later drips. All the repairs really took it’s toll on my collection of misc fittings. Good thing I was stocking up ahead of time or it would have really hurt my cash reserves.

Misc thoughts. One is about the de-bur tool. It’s cheap enough and cheaply made, but saves in retrospect. Second is pex is all about getting a square cut and then de-burring. I used some of the off brand fittings with good results also. I now have zones with water and boiler drains to simplify later repairs without shutting down the whole system. I’m sold on all of the materials now.

Glad to see you Dragon. Pretty nasty winter, we got down to freezing a few times down here in North Mexico. Finally getting back to normal, mid 70s this week. Have to check out those fittings and such, sounds like something to keep on hand…

Winter ain’t done up here and I’m sure done with it. Trying to mix plaster in freezing temps is hard work and very realistically not worth it. But, bills must be paid. Sunday is supposed to hit us with another icy blast. The warmest temps were a day or to in the 50’s and then back to the teens and below again. It feels like Alaska. I have tried a few of the off brand shark bite type fittings, they all seem to work very well indeed.